Twelve-year-old Barry Smith came to Georgia from Florida to be with his mother who had moved several months before. When Mrs. Smith tried to enroll her son in the school system in middle Georgia where they lived, school officials refused to admit the child because his mother’s name was not on the child’s Florida birth certificate. Mrs. Smith contacted GLSP for help. Lawyer Ira Foster, who specializes in education issues, noted that Georgia law does not require that a guardian’s name be on the birth certificate for admission to school if that person has custody of the child. He notified school officials that they were violating Georgia law to keep the child out of school. Barry was admitted into school on October 30, 2012, having missed school for two months because of this issue. The school district would have continued to violate Georgia law if Georgia Legal Services had not stepped in.

Ms. Suffolk had taken out a small loan with a large finance company and was having trouble paying it back. She reached a settlement with the company that she would pay the loan, $425, over  time and had paid $250 back when she again had trouble making the payments because she also has $10,000 in medical bills and other debts. She worked at a large retailer, making $9.55 an hour, and her wages were put on a card, similar to a debit card. The finance company filed a garnishment against her without reporting to the court that she had already paid back more than half the loan. A freeze was put on her wage card so she could not get at any of her money, effectively allowing the finance company to take 100 percent of her pay. Ms. Suffolk came to GLSP for help. Our attorney investigated and found that the amount stated on the garnishment was dramatically inflated above what was actually owed. GLSP was able to negotiate dismissal of the garnishments, releasing all funds to Ms. Suffolk. The finance company also agreed to file a satisfaction of judgment for the underlying debt so that it could no longer pursue any future judgments. So Ms. Suffolk was able to recover $300 and avoid further payments of $175.

Mrs. Parker made her unemployed husband leave home after he became violent with her, causing her young sons to break into the room to protect her. He left and stayed away for six months, never trying to see their children or communicate with his wife.

But then neighbors began to text her that he was hanging around on Mrs. Parker’s porch at night and sitting in his car near the youngest son’s school bus stop during the day. Then he began showing up at Mrs. Parker’s place of work and trying to talk to her. She would get security to walk her to the car, but he would follow them insisting that she talk to him.

Mrs. Parker tried to get a divorce, pro se, but he wouldn’t sign all the papers, and the court rejected the case because the papers were incomplete.

Mrs. Parker made changes to her routine so he wouldn’t know where she was, but he kept showing up at her home. He once took the youngest son without asking her and tried to enroll him in school in another state. He had no address so he brought the boy back home, but kept insisting that Mrs. Parker talk to him. She called the police and offered to talk to him at the sheriff’s office or at a church, but he refused.

Her husband was getting much more aggressive, so she came to Georgia Legal Services Program for help.

A GLSP attorney in our Piedmont office took the case. She gathered evidence and spoke with witnesses and represented Mrs. Parker in court. The judge granted a 12-month protective order for her and her children and reopened the divorce case. GLSP is also working to get custody and child support for Mrs. Parker.

Mrs. Parker said GLSP’s help was invaluable to restoring safety to her life. Her attorney’s help showed her “that I wasn’t alone, someone was on my side and understood my situation and could help before it turned into a tragedy.”

GLSP handles very few divorces for clients, generally referring them out to private attorneys. But sometimes, when there is severe domestic violence involved, we can take a divorce case such as this one:

Ms. Royston came to us for help with a divorce from her husband who abused her.  A GLSP attorney realized she needed a Temporary Protective Order first because the husband was still threatening her. In the midst of that process, Ms. Royston’s car was suddenly repossessed by a title company based on a title pawn her husband had accomplished by forging her name to the title.

This created a domino effect of Ms. Royston being unable to get to work, losing her job, losing her housing and living on the couch of a friend five counties away from her home.

The GLSP attorney helped Ms. Royston with the TPO, driving her back and forth for her hearing. The lawyer also negotiated a stay on the repossession action by the title company, which ultimately agreed to return the car to the client and wipe out the $5,500 debt against Ms. Royston.

GLSP is now helping Ms. Royston with a divorce, custody arrangements and child support.